Instamums (continued)

[MrBull]

Not a TAAT

Yes, I guess there's a lot of just tagging the brand when it's freebies/gifts which isn't clear enough although she does often say "thanks for this X" so it's clear if you listen to her it's a gift. 30's fixer uppers do that too. Tag the brand but say "thank you" in conversation. I guess now they should be tagging these posts as advertising to be completely clear.

The ones I don't like are those that will say something in stories like "trying out this new lipstick today, what do you think?" and then tag the brand. Is that a gift or not? It's not clear at all.

Yeah I unfollowed the frugality because of the lack of disclosure, plus I was getting fed up of the baby spam (roast me now for that )

I think Alex from the frugality is really good! I really love her feed. I find that bloggers that do this for a business are much better at being upfront than those who have become popular just on insta.

I didn’t say I didn’t love her feed, it’s really lovely, just misleading as most of it is sponsored imo. I don’t listen to stories generally so I can only go off what is on the grid.

Erica Davies is generally very good at disclosing affiliate links, gifts and ads. I enjoy her feed more because of it.

Mrs Hinch has just done a huge advert for easho on her stories, clearly reading a script, no hashtags no nothing, just tagged the store. 800k followers now and the stories are becoming a stream of presumably affiliate links.

Yes, Erica Davies is excellent all round. No wonder brands want to work with her. Everything about her feed is engaging and, like you, I enjoy her feed even more because of her transparency.

On one of the threads people were listing who they thought was good at declaring, the frugality came up a lot and I was thinking WHAT!?! her gift declaring is woeful. Especially on the blog. I do like her though and enjoy her feed/blog/stories.

Well her disclosure is better now than it was a few hours ago anyway . Just needs a bit of work on gifts now..

Ahhh I like The Frugality and I think very transparent. I like the baby spam even though her choice re exposure of her baby on public platform wouldn’t be mine but each to their own.

I’m surprised no one has mentioned Fleur de Force - not an instamum exactly but I definitely respect her decision to keep her baby daughter off Instagram other than the odd back of the head shot. She’s had a massive amount of flack for it which shows that a lot of the ‘fans’ are driving the exposure of children online. BUT she still makes a huge amount of money from aff links of baby stuff and baby hauls and shows gifted items for baby a lot.

Pandora Sykes from The High Low podcast (again not instamum but a high profile user) has written an interesting article for man repeller on her choices about showing her parenting. She takes the opposite approach to FDF, seems to show the baby a little bit but never links baby items or tags outfits etc.

Well yes lots of people clearly like the baby spam, she still has a huge number of followers, I don’t though, I am not interested in photos of other people’s babies, it’s not even the exposure issue for me.
I liked the frugality when it was fashion and (sometimes) house stuff. It turned in to too much of a baby blog but I wasn’t an idiot about it, I just unfollowed.
Theses influencers must have advisors I guess who are helping them with the accounts.

Mrs Hinch has just done a huge advert for easho on her stories, clearly reading a script, no hashtags no nothing, just tagged the store. 800k followers now and the stories are becoming a stream of presumably affiliate links

I saw this, and she is also doing a competition with them so presumably not out of the kindness of her own heart. But no declaration or making anything clear. Also posts items tagging the company and I'm now unsure as to what she's getting for free or paying for, as she showed before boxes and boxes of free stuff she had been sent. Shes also offering discount codes for some of these companies. It's incredibly confusing so I'm sure the followers who have no idea about affiliates, gifting and ads are oblivious to it all which is completely wrong.

I found FODs stories disturbing considering what was probably a difficult few days for MOD with one of the twins in hospital

I don’t mind the frugality’s feed but I do get a bit irritated with her moaning about her followers / DMs etc sometimes, I get they probably do get a bit annoying but think there’s probably bette outlets for the moaning than on the feed you’re relying on those self same followers to engage with you on (otherwise known as just click on my links but don’t bother me).

Wardrobe Icons are hands down the worst for transparency though, although I think I’m their case it’s pribably clear that everything is sponsoried / an ad / gift etc.

• requested removal previous posts as poor wording I’m fairly astounded that whilst one of the twins was in hospital she went and bought £150 pyjamas. One day of midwifery a week and being an influencer must be very profitable. Must be like winning the lottery. An nhs midwife with that post is unexpected. And Fods stories were completely disrespectful to the home situation.

In fact I’d go so far as to say I had no idea there were pyjamas that cost £150 before that post! Definitely a different life and completely unrelatable to me.

I’d say they’re good buy based on the engagement she’s got on that post.

The only stockists of those PJs are London department stores like Selfridges on their web page - that's not a "duck out to grab a pair of Pj's" situation if they were in a Kent hospital surely? And £150 on a pair of Pj's is just incomprehensible - I spent £150 today on a week's food shopping, a tank of petrol, and managed to pick up four pairs of PJs for my kids out of that too!

Do you mean the moaning about the baby advice she gets @visitorthedog? I've noticed that too. But it kind of reminds me of how I was with my first. I was a bit guilty of PFB syndrome!

Yes, a bit, @mrbull but others before moaning in general about too many DMs, I do get it, but think it’s probably not the right place for it, makes you feel a bit stupid for following her.

@chocolatetea I agree! Why has she tagged them and posted? Were they a gift or is she hoping they’ll send more?! When my Dd was in hospital and vomited on me, I had to wear scrubs 😅 I popped to the closest place to get spare clothes and ended up in Primark pjs and joggers!! Luckily I avoided a parking ticket as the warden thought I was a surgeon fresh from theatre!!!

I think a lot of instamums get unsolicited judgy comments via dm, you might say it should come with the territory but I'm sure it gets pretty wearing.
I think that's what the frugality was on about re dms.

Oh I both think it does come with the territory and agree it must be wearing. I just think it would serve them better to moan amongst themselves, vs publically.

It’s like answering a story though. The content is so personally viewed. It’s not like watching tv etc it is a very individual activity, and I’ve found myself commenting on the odd story or answering a question, and then I’m sort of embarrassed or worried because it’s a sort of assumed familiarity. I can imagine equally commenting on something that’s negative could happen. And people not really realising how shocking or full on that is to the receiver. The vile abuse must be fairly rare, but teqestonng negativity must be quite difficult. Especially if you are one of the more entitled instamummas. If you make inflammatory comments, like ‘I’m on holiday for you, doing a holiday review’ I can well imagine some responses! (And I never have, but given I’ve found myself comfortable enough to message strangers it may well be easier than you would think.)

You put yourself out there. I've a decent amount of followers and get lots of dms. I don't get free stuff though or sell anything. I genuinely love connecting with different and new people.